ty government that the crew of the
ship should remain for defence of the port.[460] It will be remembered
that this was in the anxious period preceding the development of the
British menace to the coast, which issued in the capture of Washington
and Alexandria, and the attack on Baltimore. Philadelphia also
trembled; and Decatur received an order to carry the "President's"
crew to her protection, if threatened.[461]

On New Year Day, 1815, the "President" was still in the bay, awaiting
a chance to sail. She was deeply laden for a long absence, and was to
be accompanied by a merchant brig, the "Macedonian," carrying further
stores. The sloops "Hornet" and "Peacock," and brig "Tom Bowline,"
were likewise watching to slip out. On the night of January 14, 1815,
in a heavy northwester, the "President's" attempt was made; the
pilots for the occasion having undertaken to mark the channel by boats
suitably stationed. Despite these precautions the ship grounded, and
beat heavily on the bottom for an hour and a half. By this she was
seriously injured, and would have gone back had the wind permitted. As
it was, she had to be forced over, and at 10 P.M. went clear; but with
loss of a large part of that speed for which she was known, and which
had been among Decatur's chief reasons for preferring her to the new
"Guerriere."[462] The "Macedonian" was in company.

The British blockading division was under the command of Captain John
Hayes, of the razee[463] "Majestic," and consisted, besides that ship,
of the forty-gun 24-pounder frigate "Endymion," and the
thirty-eight-gun 18-pounder frigates "Pomone" and "Tenedos"; the
latter of which had joined on the 13th. The vessels were driven off
shore by the violence of the gale; but Hayes, reasoning as a seaman,
anticipated both Decatur's sailing that night and his probable course.
After clearing the bar, the "President" steered nearly due east, along
the south shore of Long Island, for fifty miles, when she headed off,
southeast by east, for the open sea. At 5 A.M. three of the British
squadron were seen ahead on the new course; the fourth, the "Tenedos,"
being then out of sight to the southward, either detached for a wider
sweep of watchfulness, or separated by the gale.

The "President," on seeing the enemy, hauled up again along shore, and
a stern chase began, which lasted till near nightfall of the 15th;
the "Endymion" leading the British squadron. The "Tenedos" being
sighted soon af